Poll: Both parties say Romney will be GOP nominee

Nearly three-fourths of Republicans say Mitt Romney has sewn up the race for the GOP presidential nomination, according to a new poll that shows voters also tiring of the long primary fight.

Seventy-four percent of Republicans and GOP-leaning independents in the poll by the Pew Research Center for People and the Press said Romney will definitely be the party's standard-bearer against President Obama. Democrats agree, with 64% saying the same.

In a key finding, 47% of Republicans say the primary race is "a bad thing for the GOP," compared with 36% who say it's good that the intra-party battle continues.

Romney won the Maryland, Wisconsin and District of Columbia primaries last week and tightened his grip on the GOP nomination. He sounded confident today in a radio interview with former rival Mike Huckabee, a former Arkansas governor.

"In all likelihood I will be the one that gets the delegates to become the nominee," Romney said on Huckabee's syndicated radio show, according to CNN.

Romney has 660 of the 1,144 delegates needed to win the GOP nomination, according to the latest tally by the Associated Press. Rick Santorum, his closest GOP rival, is second with 281 delegates.

The next primary is April 24 in Pennsylvania, Santorum's home state.

Newt Gingrich, who is staying in the GOP race despite limited resources, conceded on Sunday that Romney is "the most likely Republican nominee." Romney told Huckabee that he talks from time to time with Gingrich and that the two candidates have been "pretty open-eyed" about the race.

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About Catalina Camia

Catalina Camia leads the OnPolitics online community and has been at USA TODAY since 2005. She has been a reporter or editor covering politics and Congress for two decades, including stints at The Dallas Morning News and Congressional Quarterly. Follow her at @USATOnPolitics.